the recent crash at the reno air races brought is that reality tragically into focus. a vintage p-51 mustang airplane plunges to the ground and explodes killing the pilot and a number of spectators. >> keep your heads up. >> the next day in west virginia at an air show, another vintage aircraft crashes killing the pilot. >> air shows can be dangerous to the pilots. they're putting their planes through maneuvers and through paces that are very demanding. that's part of what makes them entertaining. >> how safe are these events for spectators and participants? >> i hit the taxiway out in that area with a rate of 5,000 feet a minute. that's not a landing you walk away from. >> some of the answers lie in the dramatic imimages of these aerial disasters that you'll see

now. hello. i'm contessa brewer. welcome to a special edition of "caught on camera." exploring the danger and daring of air shows and air races. take, for instance, the recent deaths at the reno air races. there, restored world war ii planes and jets race at high speeds over the nevada desert floor in front of a grand stand of spectators. one of this year's top contenders was 74-year-old jimmy leeward, a veteran pilot who was flying a restored world war ii plane he named the galloping ghost. >> we're as fast as anybody in the field or faster. we'll see on friday what happens. >> but on september 16th, 2011, in the middle of a race

something goes terribly wrong. leeward's plane lurches upwards and goes into a dive hurdling toward the grand stand. just missing it but leaving more than ten people dead including leeward. on close examination, photographs reveal a critical piece of the tail is missing. >> the trim tap is to use the forces on a flight control. on this case it's on the elevator which allows the pilot to go up and down. with that missing, the aerodynamic forces are great for the pilot. and without that trim tap, that elevator could become uncontrollable. >> another photo just before the plane crashes appears to show no one in the cockpit. could leeward have passed out and lurched forward leaving no one in control? these are all questions that the national transportation safety

board is now investigating. >> there could be a number of factors that attributed to the crash of the galloping ghost. could be structural failure. could be as aircraft pass as a high speed he has to make a turn around the pylon. flying in the turbulence of the other airplane may have gs and make him unconscious. >> meanwhile, the pictures of those in the area reveal something beyond comprehension. >> the lady behind me said i knew it was going to hit us. i said i did too. and that pilot did an excellent job of saving lives. >> leeward's souped-up p-51 is one specially built to race in reno. >> an unlimited class mustang racer is vastly different than a stock or world war ii era mustang. the wings have been shortened.

the canopy -- a smaller one has been installed. so it's a dramatically different airplane than of the mustangs in world war ii. >> meanwhile, the very next day september 17th, 2011, in west virginia. this time at an air show. a group of restored vintage planes flying stunts in close formation results in another crash killing the pilot. in fact, while the reno air races are unique, air shows are seen by more than 10 million americans each year. >> air shows are primarily aerial displays. they're choreographed carefully, they're practiced repeatedly. in an air show the performance will be the same this time as it was last time. in a race, it's a race. it's a competitive race. >> since 1951, no spectators have died at an air show.

but since 2000, 30 pilots have lost their lives flying in air shows pushing themselves and their planes sometimes beyond the limit. the key to a successful show is to make the audience believe the aerial tricks are harder and more dangerous than they actually are. >> air show pilots are really in the business of making relatively benign maneuvers look amazing and dangerous and incredible to the viewing public. the best air show pilots understand that they need to have an out during the middle -- and by an out i mean some way of getting out of the maneuver. >> i can do a loop and when i get to the top i can make a roll and finish the loop. or i can pull up doing a quarter loop, fly a straight line, pivot similar to a spin, come back down and loop out. we assemble the complex th

maneuvers by piecing them together. then we have a whole sequence. >> i'm trying to stay two steps ahead. i'm always thinking two steps ahead of me. what is my next leap point. when do i get the smoke on. who am i looking for. if i don't stay two steps ahead of the aircraft, it gets ahead of me and it all turns bad. >> what causes top pilots and their airplanes to crash at air shows and races? >> oh, my god! >> it comes down to two things. an engine fails, the controls malfunction, or there's a structural problem. the second principle cause, pilot error. coming up next on "caught on camera," what happens when a state of the art stealth fighter

comes apart at an air show? >> it was just amazing to see a plane a hundred feet away from you on fire not knowing what was going to happen. >> when "caught on camera: flying to the edge" continues. to keep in balance after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has ginkgo for memory and concentration, plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's.

i'm a speck of dust alone in the wire jungle. some dusters say i'm unreachable, [ grunting ] but that's how i like it. unattached, free, indep... i've changed my mind. ♪ i believe in miracles [ female announcer ] swiffer attracts dust. new and improved swiffer dusters gets into hard to reach places picking up three times more dust than a feather duster with dust lock adhesive to lock dust away. you're very adventurous! [ female announcer ] swiffer cleans better or your money back. ♪ [ female announcer ] swiffer cleans better like so many great pioneers before me, guided only by a dream. i'm embarking on a journey of epic proportion. i will travel, from sea to shining sea, through amber waves of grain, and i won't stop until i've helped every driver in america save hundreds on car insurance. well i'm out of the parking lot. that's a good start. geico, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent,

or more on car insurance. helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health.

aerobattic stunt planes often stunt driven are the workhorses of shows. but the show horses are military jets. they are what wow the crowds with their sound of thunder and the smell of jet fuel working together to create awe and wonder. the pilots of these technological marvels are also the best the military have to offer. no matter how well trained the pilots are, if the planes aren't

properly maintained, it's just a matter of time before something goes terribly wrong. even we the latest state of the art aircraft. a vivid example was in 1997 outside of baltimore, maryland. a stealth fighter makes a final pass at the chesapeake air show. as the plane begins to ascend, it literally starts to break apart in mid-air. the pilot captain brian knight tries to steer away from the crowd below. >> i at at a picnic table and just drank a beer and was eating some steamed crabs. >> left to right. the health f-117 -- >> i kind of looked up and the plane was right over top of me at that point. >> mcdonald grabs his video camera and starts recording.

it was just, you know, amazing to see a plane a hundred feet away from you on fire not knowing what was going to happen. >> it slams down on a nearby home. fortunately no one is home. >> they just bought the house i believe two weeks earlier. so they were in for a shock when they came home. >> local residents dodged the falling debris, explosions bursting all around them. >> there were some very highly flammable items around the site. someone next door was a commercial crabber. they had all different types of propane tanks which exploded. there was a car in the driveway. and that caught fire. that exploded. people were yelling and screaming and they were just hysterical. >> mcdonald notices something else. >> out of the corner of my eye i just happened to see something bright orange 50 feet to 100

feet above me. and i turned my camcorder towards it. >> amazingly it's the pilot. he had ejected seconds before the plane burst into flames. >> all of a sudden i couldn't believe how hard he hit the ground. then and there i knew that this guy really stayed with the plane for a long time because he didn't land soft at all. >> neighbors rush to the pilot's aid. diane helps remove his helmet and chute. >> get back, grandpa. >> my wife's grandfather started running toward the pilot. and i told him to get back. >> emergency vehicles and the national guard arrive on the scene. firefighters use a flame retardant foam to extinguish the fire. in a matter of minutes, a small quiet neighborhood becomes the scene of an intense federal

investigation. officials say the aerobattic box is what prevented life loss. it keeps planes away in the event of a crash. air force investigators later find that a metal brace in the left wing was improperly installed. causing the wing to vibrate violently and eventually come apart. >> the pilot recognized what was happening, controlled the aircraft so that he could eject. he ejected, parachuted to safety. the wreckage of the airplane crashed outside the airport. nobody on the ground was hurt. the pilot received only minor injuries. that's about as close as our business gets to a happy ending. >> plan on landing at 03. both cables are up. for the area battic, box any questions on that? >> the u.s. military with its elite flying teams of the navy's

blue angels and the thunder birds often entertain at air shows like the ones at chesapeake. to make sure that the spectators and the pilots come home safe, these flight teams train 24/7 for these events. here at nulles air force base in in eviden nevada, the thunderbirds do their training. >> it's critical for everybody involved in the air show from the crew chiefs to the people at the communications trailer to the pilots, we start the ground show at 2:30 on the dot. it's on the dot. everybody knows exactly when to start. and all our moves are choreographed and practiced for months. so when the show starts,

everybody has cues on when to do their thing. >> still there are mishaps. since their inception in 1953, 23 pilots have died in crashes. while in the last 65 years, 25 blue angel pilots have lost their lives. the biggest loss of life for the thunderbirds came in 1982 during a regular training exercise in the nevada desert. four planes were lost and four pilots killed. an air force investigation concluded that the lead pilot lost his bearings putting his plane into a dive too close to the ground and couldn't pull out in time. the other pilots who were to follow the wing tip of the leader tracked behind the lead jet. tragically all four planes slammed into the desert floor. to help prevent such disasters from happening again, a meticulous training program is essential. >> from the time the show starts

throughout the whole show, they have a number of hack points where as far as seconds go that they need to be -- one maneuver passes the ground they hack the stopwatch. depending how many seconds it is before it passes ahead of the ground is how far they're off. it's down to .1 of a second to how far they are to be in front of a crowd. >> perhaps the one exercise that civilian and military pilots train for most vigorously is the fly by where they look to almost collide in the sky. >> the illusion of a collision can be exciting for the public. coming up, when that illusion of a mid-air collision becomes deadly reality. as "caught on camera: flying on the edge" continues. [ junior ] i played professional basketball for 12 years.

today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. [ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later... [ junior ] and serve more customers. so you're not just getting financial capital... [ cheryl ] you're also getting human capital. not just money. knowledge. [ junior ] ge capital. they're not just bankers... we're builders. [ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business.

helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. we made a miracle. and we got onesies! sometimes miracles get messy. so we use tide free. no perfumes or dyes for her delicate skin. brad. not it. not it. just kidding. that's our tide. what's yours? a network of possibilities... ♪ in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside. why are you sitting in the dark? ♪

[ male announcer ] in here, you're never away from home. it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

it's one of the most thrilling maneuvers to watch at an air show. the near-mid-air collision. it's a staple at both military and civilian shows giving audiences an adrenaline rush like few other stunts. >> the illusion of a near-mid-air collision at an air show can be exciting for the people watching the show. in this type of maneuver two planes approach one another and at the last second just before they would otherwise hit, they roll, pass barely missing one another. fact is that's not going to happen. there's no way they can hit each other. it's prebriefed but it creates the illusion. it's good entertainment for the

public. >> the council of air shows says while mid-air collisions do happen, accidents are rare. >> from the perspective of the crowd, of course it looks pretty dramatic. if you were actually along the same centerline at the airplanes you would see they are separated by a fair amount of space. so you can creating in the air show itself, somewhat of an illusion. you try to make the simple look spectacular, the difficult look great, and never try the impact, of course. that's an adage that many aerobatic pilots try to go by. >> it would become the site of one of the worst air show disasters ever. ten planes from the italian air force are part of an air show that has attracted 300,000 spectators.

>> the italian pilots perform a complicated maneuver requiring the planes to pass close to each other only 200 feet off the ground. an plane clips two other jets flying in the opposite direction. one of the planes cart wheels into the crowd spewing burning jet fuel. >> in all, 70 people die and there are some some 350 injuries. >> in 1988, the italian military formation team was performing at an air show in ramstien, germany

and had a mid-air collision. interestingly that same team had been in the united states earlier that year and that maneuver had been prohibited by the faa. >> because laws in the u.s. govern how close planes can fly to a spectator line, spectators are usual lie safe in the case of crashes. a minimum of 500 feet for the slowest moving aircraft. and 1500 feet for high speed jets. and planes are prohibited from flying at audiences meaning the forward moving energy of the aircraft is always directed away from crowds. >> we have guidelines. we have setbacks from the

audience. more important the distance the the airplanes are flying relative to the crowd. you won't see energy directed towards the crowd if the crowd is over here, you're not going to see the airplane doing an aerobatic maneuver towards the crowd. all that energy has to be directed parallel to the ground with the scatter pattern. it if comes apart in the air, none will head towards the crowd. >> but in europe the laws are not as strict which might have led to tragic results like ramstien. and in 2002 a crash at an air show in ukraine that killed 77 people. in that case the plane flew too low, crashed on the runway and skidded into the stands. the pilots who were alive were found guilty of negligence.

>> though regulations now in europe are more stringent, the europeans still haven't adopted some of the rules that we have here in the u.s. coming up, a stunt pilot crashes and lives to talk about it. but barely. >> i firmly believe that my body absorbed 97% of what it possibly could have and still survived. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok?" just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad.

>> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm? [ jake ] uh...

khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth!

here's what's happening. josh fattal and shane bauer are back on american soil after spending two years in an iranian prison as accused spies. they thanked family and supporters and claimed the only reason they were held was because of their nationality. a man is charged with his wife's murder after his wife ease bot i did was found in a cement drum. now back to "caught on camera."

welcome back to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. seasoned stunt pilot wayne handily just happening to know his way around the airfield and the sky. handly flew five years as a pilot and then as a crop duster in california. in 1985 he added aerobatic flying to his repertoire and realized he loved to entertain people. >> i had a small private airport 30 miles south of here. there is no audience when i practice. one car stops it totally changes the intensity. i have an audience. now it doesn't make a difference if i have thousands of people or one person in a car. now i have an audience. i've heard others say the same

thing. so as long as you have people like us that like to fly, like to entertain, and you have people that are going to come and see this type of flying, it's going to continue. >> civilian pilots come from a number of different backgrounds. some of them are exmilitary pilots. and some come from an aerobatic competition community. whatever their entry into air show business, they're pretty widely regarded as amongst the most talented and skilled pilots in all of aviation. >> october 3rd, 1999. handley almost dies doing what he does best. he takes off in his g-750 in front of a crowd of 80,000 people at the california international air show in celinas. >> i pushed the nose over to about a 70 degrees angle coming down steep. and this airplane had the

capability of reversing the propeller. i could reverse the pitch of the propeller and blow the air forward instead of going back. >> handley had done this maneuver often. it's tricky, but not difficult. >> at about 60 knots as i'm coming down. well, something went wrong that i didn't recognize at the time. the time i came out of reverse at idle and i started bringing the throttle back up, no power was generated to come back to the propeller. >> without any power handley can't pull his plane out of its rapid decent. he's about to crash and there isn't a lot he can do about it. >> and i got the nose up a bit but didn't change the trajectory of the airplane. even though i got the nose up, the airplane is still coming down like this. i hit the taxiway in that area with the rate of decent of 5,000 feet a minute.

>> handley's plane smashes on top of the runway skidding 200 feet. then a fire erupts. >> the airplane hit, parts flew in every direction. so many things worked well for me when the airplane finished the slideout, it hit a taxi light facing downwind. a fire started on top of the engine. my flight suit was covered with fuel. but because of the wind, it didn't connect and i didn't burn in the time it took the fire truck to get there. >> handley can't remember the rescue crews pulling him from the wreckage. >> i firmly believe that my body absorbed 97% of what it possibly could have and still survived. my aorta didn't tear loose, it had to be close. it broke my back, my ribs, my

sternum. i have titanium rods in my back right now. i'm two and a half inches shorter. i hate that. >> six months after the crash, handley goes back to the airport to see what's left of his plane. >> i'm looking here underneath the seat. the structure down underneath the seat that the seat sat on. all composite material compressed and absorbed the energy as it failed a good amount. the fact that just everything, it just -- what i'm seeing is it could not have taken anymore. everything is just absolutely maxed out. the fact that the fuselage broke here at the canopy. the taxiway where i hit had three chop marks where the blades hit. first blade, second blade, and third blade.

it broke it off right at the shank right out of the propeller hub. this panel is all twisted and bowed in. between the airframe and my body, just everything was right at its maximum absorption capability. >> in a nearby hanger, he watches footage of his crash and footage of a more successful prior flight. >> this was up by san francisco showing how it should look. this is the way it's supposed to work. when i shut the smoke off there is when i'm coming out of reverse pitch and had just enough power right here to make the flare, touch down, now pull it back in reverse and bring it to a stop real quick.

now we'll see it here in celinas. i didn't realize i had a problem until right here. on the turbine engine, there's no response to the thrust lever. right here it's inevitable i'm going to hit the ground. how hard i hit depends on the power i get back. the fact i don't get any power back, and about right in here it's questionable in my mind whether i'm going to survive the impact. watch my white helmet. see how i come out here? i don't know how the straps stretched enough for me to come out three feet higher than what it should have been. hit a taxi light there and spined the airplane around. that faced me downwind. so the fire didn't connect.

so that's not a landing that you walk away from. >> in the crowd that day were his wife, family members, and many close friends. for their sake and his own safety, his stunt flying days are in the past. >> last thing in the world you ever want to do is have an accident like this in front of your loved ones. it was traumatic for all concerned. i was aware of the stress i was putting my family under, but then seeing the stress of the accident and then the relief a few days later when i turned the corner in my recovery, it was an easy decision to hang it up. i couldn't subject them to it anymore. >> in handley's crash, the regulations did their job protecting the audience at the

california international air show. keeping them well clear of danger. but as handley's case shows, these don't always protect the men and women who do these dangero dangerous stupts. coming up -- >> there was one final move they made. we were waiting for them to come back up. and the plane didn't come back up. >> when "caught on camera: flying on the edge" continues. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables?

maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. in money-saving coupons at aviva, we wonder why other life insurance companies treat you like a policy, not a person. instead of getting to know you they simply assign you a number.

aviva is here to change all that. we're bringing humanity back to insurance and putting people before policies. aviva life insurance and annuities. we are building insurance around you. helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. you had me living with the pain" of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer,

blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist how you can defend against and help stop further joint damage with humira. those who attend air shows see all kinds of exciting sights.

from close fly-byes and wing walking. with all these stunts, there are risks. and sometimes things don't go according to plan. like at an air show in brownsville, texas. >> we've been doing this fest since 1991. we've never had an incident of this nature before. >> he's going to crash! >> march 12th, 2011. crowds gather at the brownsville south padre airport for the high flying festivities. >> it's a fair type atmosphere. there's music and there's people talking and there's just all sorts of sound and activity going on. >> the day's featured attraction is the pirated skies act performed by a young husband and wife team kyle and amanda franklin. >> two of the finest air show performers in the country. >> as the franklins begin their routine, crowds are amazed by kyle's skillful piloting and

amanda's daring wing walking. >> there aren't many wing walkers in the air show business. it's a thrilling thing to see. >> their routine is going as clockwork. just as they've practiced it. >> kyle franklin is one of the greatest aerobatic performers i've ever seen. it's a unique biplane. he makes it do things that airplanes shouldn't be able to do. he has a pretty sophisticated smoke system that pumps out smoke as he's doing all of his aerobatic maneuvers. it's quite entertaining. and amanda basically crawls all over the airplane while kyle is doing all sorts of aerobatic maneuvers with that big biplane of his. >> but as their routine ends, something goes horribly wrong. >> there was one final move that they made and i guess we were all just waiting for them to

come back up. and the plane didn't come back up. >> it just kind of disappeared behind a little brush line. >> i didn't know what was happening. we thought it was part of the show at first. people were anticipating for the plane to come back up. >> the plane never reappears and those in the crowd begin to suspect that something has gone awry. >> i was so shocked because the crowd, thousands of people were here. you could have heard a pin drop. >> we have an airplane that went down at the air show. >> fortunately our crash fire and rescue trucks were rolling before the airplane ever got on the ground. so they were there almost immediately. >> both husband and wife survive the initial crash. >> a couple seconds later, smoke started coming out. >> kyle got out almost

immediately and was trying to help amanda out when a fire ensued. >> but amanda is still tethered by a safety belt to the plane and kyle can't free her. >> i heard amanda. she was screaming. i heard the scream and ran to the plane. >> air show worker eddie alvarez is one of the first people to respond to the crash site. >> i noticed, i saw the fire. >> the fire threatens to consume the entire plane leaving rescuers little time. >> they eventually started taking them out. they were able to get them out and take them to the local hospitals here. >> unfortunately kyle and amanda both sustained burns as a result of that. kyle sustained burns on his arms.

>> unfortunately amanda's injuries are far more severe. a week after the crash, an emotional kyle franklin describes his wife's injuries. >> she's got burns over 70% of her body. she's got inhalation injury. she's got a broken neck, a broken back. her face is smashed. she's got multiple fractures all throughout her face. she's got very little skin left for them to do much grafting. >> due to the severity of her burns, amanda is overwhelmed by numerous infections and her kidneys begin to shut down. 11 weeks after the crash, kyle makes a sad decision. he removes his wife from life support. amanda soon slips away. she's only 25. the national transportation safety board or ntsb has not released its final report on the

cause of the crash. >> from the time that the engine developed a problem until the time they were on the ground was a matter of five or six seconds. she was standing on the top wing. when they crashed into the brush, she was inside the front cockpit. >> he leveled out so amanda could get back inside the cockpit. he had to get her back in the airplane before he could adjust his direction, otherwise she might have fallen off the wing. and then as he tried to make his way back into the open area, he didn't have enough altitude. so he went down in the brush just across the runway. >> after the wreckage is cleared, the crash site provides additional clues to kyle's smart split-second decision making.

>> this is where the plane went down. after looking at the site, it appears to me that he was trying to turn back towards the runway because there's a tree up there that has some branchs missing at the top. if he was coming from that direction that implies he was going back towards the runway and didn't have enough altitude to make it. >> despite not making it to the runway, kyle still manages to get the plane in a good position for their rescue. >> if he had gone in another 20 or 40 feet east of here, the fire trucks wouldn't have been able to get there. so he did a masterful job of at least getting it into a position where the rescue crews could get to him. it truly is amazing. >> at air shows, it's splint-second decisions made by seasoned pilots like kyle that often saves lives. sometimes their own. coming up, finding the best ways to further reduce the death

toll at air shows and air races. >> we still have accidents and we'll continue to have accidents in the air show industry. because we are trying so hard to entertain, to show people maneuvers they've never seen before and just keep pushing the edge, pushing the edge. >> when "caught on camera: flying on the edge" continues. [ kristy ] my mom is well...weird. she won't eat eggs without hot sauce. she has kind of funny looking toes. she's always touching my hair. and she does this dancing finger thing. [ male announcer ] with advanced technology from ge, now doctors can diagnose diseases like breast cancer on a cellular level. so that women, like kristy's mom, can get personalized treatment that's as unique as she is. [ kristy ] she's definitely not like other moms. yeah, my mom is pretty weird. ♪ that's me with the blow dryer and the flat iron until i see smoke.

so pantene said, "breakage and split ends? no problem." they gave me this pantene called breakage to strength. [ female announcer ] the keratin protection pro-v system helps prevent then repair split ends. zero fear of breakage, 100% more strength. no regrets, just health. i'm not giving up the heat. [ female announcer ] the breakage to strength system from pantene. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. a network of possibilities... ♪

in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside. why are you sitting in the dark? ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, you're never away from home. it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

when a plane crashes, whether at an air show or an air race, or even during a commercial flight, the first question asked by authorities is -- why? pilots in aviation investigators know it's rare that one incident or one wrong move brings down a plane. instead, there's something called the error chain, a series of events that added together will cause a crash.

in hindsight, it's one of the most frustrating aspects of airplane disasters, because if any one of the links in the error chain is avoided, the crash most likely won't happen. >> an example of article error chain might be an air show pilots who has a poor night's sleep the day before an air show, wakes up, he's a little groggy, tired, then has to sit in the sun all day until his performance, say, 3:00 in the afternoon, 4:00 in the heat of the day, and perhaps they're not keeping up on their fluids, so physically they're a little dehydrated, fatigued, tired, and then they're asked to perform under the stresses of several gs, positive and negative. the g tolerance goes down, so now the pilot has the potential of having some gray-out, possibly even blackout and losing their situational awareness, a little lacks in

terlax in their decision, and this can contribute to a little sloppier flying than normal and perhaps unfortunately an accident. >> as hard as our industry works, avoiding accidents that involve spectators, the fact is life is full of risks. whether you're driving to get a gallon of milk or attending an air show, there's always a chance. we've built or reputation on the fact that that is not likely to happen at an air show. >> pilot fatalities in u.s. air shows have dropped from 12 in 1989 to 3 in 2011. >> we still have accidents and

continue to show because we are trying so hard to entertain, show people maneuvers we have never seen before and keep pushing the edge, pushing the edge. to err is human, entertaining is not worth dying for, but unfortunately as long as you have the law of gravity working and people trying to defy it, like i did, hit the ground a little bit harder than you expected to. >> if a pilot has a crash, the international council of air shows responds quickly, working with the national transportation safety board to gather information. and if the pilot survives, he or she is put on probation until the accident is fully reviewed. attention to detail is a necessity safety is always the number one concern, both for pilots and for spectators. >> we have three prioritized steps that we look at. the first is the crowd safety.

then we look at accrue safety, and then we go into aircraft safety. we'll jettison an airplane long from a populated area before we come into harm's way or bring that opportunity back to the crowd. >> during major air shows, the air show boss plays a critical safety role in directing the planes into their routines. but the real pressure of keeping it all safe lies inside the cockpits of these high-performance planesisms from the pilot's standpoint in the airplane, there are a lot of different things happening, of course, very quickly, and high performance aerobatic, where your roll rates, going around 360 degrees from upright flight to upright flight can take less than a seconds in some airplanes. the pilot has to assemble and work in that environment, and maintain their situational

awareness, of course, understand where they are relative to the crowd line, understand if there's any wind drift that's pushing them along, so they are busy processing a lot of information in a very short amount of time, as well as trying to keep the flow of the air show, the flow of their sequence of maneuvers, and remembering what's next. it's a very intense environment. >> the maintenance we do on the airplane is far beyond what the normal airport is subjected to. i mean, we go over these airplanes with a fine-toothed comb. we replace parts earlier than we normally would, and in our training, we train, we train, we train. >> before an air show pilots ever flies, he's like leg flown several thousand hours, practiced repeatedly and frequently at very low altitudes to make sure he is that good, that he can perform without incidence. they are the best of the best.

>> are air shows too dangerous? despite the recent fatalities, the fact show they were one of the safest motorsports in the world. still some question whether military air shows with the possibility of crashes are necessary. >> i hope that we are past the barbaric stage where we're simply going to watch people perform these very dangerous stunts that hazard not only the lives of the performers, but the lives of the participants who are watching it. >> but those concerns have been dismissed by many air show advocates, who believe they have a right to see military planes in action, planes that their tax dollars pay for. >> air shows are safe. that doesn't mean that we don't periodically have accidents of some sort. but on more than one occasion

i've been at an air show where an announcer says, now, ladies and gentlemen the really dangerous part of year day -- the trip home. that's as true today as it's ever been. you're much safer at an air show than you are coming or going from home. despite the debate over the value and dangers of air shows and air races, there's one undeniable fact. they provide a unique blend of thrills and chills for spectators, and spectacular images of airborne wonder and flat-out power. i'm contessa brewer. that's all for this edition of "caught on camera." march 22nd, 1999, a